Wednesday Bolts – 1.27.10

The Bulls are staying at the Skirvin. MWUAHAHAHA: “Especially some of these [scared] guys. Some of these veterans are [scared],” Hunter said. “Like Luol [Deng], I’m glad you told me. I’m going to tell him, ‘You know the hotel’s going to be haunted.’ He’ll be scared to death.” If the Bulls’ winning streak disappears on Wednesday night when they face the Oklahoma City Thunder, now you’ll know. Kevin Durant is scary … but not as scary as a ghost.”

Ziller looks at parity in the NBA and wonders if it’s lost: “But the NBA? Parity has been a struggle for decades, and nothing the league has done works. Despite the creation of the luxury tax system, the past decade hasn’t seen noticeable improvement in league parity. In fact, using the Noll-Scully metric, NBA parity has been as bad over the last two seasons than at any point in the last two decades.”

CBS Sportsline ranks OKC ninth: “Team grade: A. Hard to believe these used to be the SuperSonics. … Aced the midterm: Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Next generation of Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups. … Flunked the first half: Nenad Krstic. Just needs to rebound, can’t even do that.”

Dime power rankings: “Some say Kevin Durant was fouled on his last-second drive against the Cavs that LeBron blocked to seal Cleveland’s win. Others say it was just another sign that KD needs to get stronger, as he shouldn’t have been fading away from the rim in the first place.”

NBA.com has OKC 11th: “After four straight thrillers, OKC is 4-7 in games determined by three points or less, and any one of several key possessions is keeping them out of playoff position. They’re just 12-9 at the Ford Center, but start a four-game homestand Wednesday.”

Chad Ford looks at how John Wall would fit with every lottery team: “If the Thunder manage to put Wall with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, Seattle fans may never recover. While some may say that Westbrook and Wall are too similar, I think they could coexist. Westbrook is more a scoring guard than a pure point guard, and Wall can be spectacular just running the show.”

Durant fifth for MVP in ESPN’s Award Watch and Scott Brooks is second for Coach of the Year: “Clearly his team has surpassed expectations, but in order for Oklahoma City to take the next step, it needs to start winning the close games. The Thunder’s past four losses have been by two points or fewer.”

Vince Thomas of NBA.com makes All-Star picks: “And here’s a prediction: At the start of the 2010-2011 season, following, hopefully, some lessons learned in his first-ever playoff series, KD will take his place with Bron, Kobe, CP, D-Wade and Melo as one of the ‘elite of the elite.'”

I realize we've left this page long ago, but I watched Alabi and Udoh this week. Udoh just hours ago as Baylor played Texas. Baylor won, which was a major upset.

Udoh was just terrible in this game. He was 0-11 in regulation, but somehow went 3-3 before fouling out in OT. He was too small and lost every position battle. Pittman was better by far. However, Damin James was even better than Pittman. It's sad when you're as big as Pittman is, yet your 6'7 teammate grabs 19 boards instead.

Alabi wasn't great, but he still shows flashes of talent and a willingness to do gruntwork. I'll be watching Aldridge tonight against k-state.

@SammyBut why are you so sure of that when his worst defensive games were both against decent out of conference opponents? He didn't have much defensive impact against UNC or West Virginia, so what makes you think his impact will somehow translate against even greater competition in the pros? Yes, I realize two games is not much of a sample, but C-USA is a terrible conference outside of Memphis, and even Memphis is way down this year. Thabeet was another guy who built the majority of his resume against cupcakes, but at least he played with the big boys. Now Thabeet may turn out to be something down the line, but right now he barely looks to be worth a first round pick.

Oh, for sure a lot of Whiteside's numbers are due to inferior competition, but I don't doubt for a second that the guy would make an immediate impact on the defensive end, maybe more than any player in the draft. It's the rawness on offense that makes me hesitate. Aldrich, imo, is a cut above and will definitely go top 10, I think.

Udoh has made some serious strides since his freshmen year. His fourth year and Aldrich's first year are very comparable. I'm sure I've seen this guy play. I watch several big 12 games every year, but I haven't paid any attention to this guy. He's definitely turning some heads this year, so I'll make sure to catch him. I didn't realize he was from Oklahoma.

As far as Whiteside goes, in every % category he is meeting or exceeding those of Aldrich or Alabi. So I guess it's up to the eye test to see if it's because of his level of competition, or if he's legit.

The system at UConn just funneled players to the middle so Thabeet could knock the shot away. Throughout UConn's history, they've sent several big time shot blockers to the NBA, only to find that the numbers don't translate well.

So, in some ways, I have more faith in Alabi's block numbers than Thabeet's. Besides, their block percentage is very comparable. Comparing all sophomore seasons block percentage, Thabeet is at 12.9, Alabi at 11.0 and Aldrich at 9.5.

I'm not saying he's the second coming of anyone great. But I think he's worth a pick in the 12-16 range.

But, if we're hanging our hats on Mullens, maybe we don't do it.

Alabi will be on TV tonight against Duke. It'll be interesting to see how he does. The ACC is one of the better college basketball leagues competition wise. I have the game set to record.

@Jax Raging Bile DuctI thought Thabeet really should have been a 10-15 pick as well. Alabi, to me is a slightly more polished Thabeet, but a significantly worse shot-blocker. Combine that with the foot injury, and I'd rather stay away. I do like Epke Udoh, but I think it's likely he'll be picked before we get a chance at him.

I think these options adequate only if we don't decide to go after a free agent or trade for a big man. I really hope though we trade most of our picks away for a valuable big man and maybe keep one for ourselves to pick up another to send to the d-league to get some experience.

@KeithI would take Whiteside over Alabi. Alabi already had a stress fracture in his foot his freshman year and I'm extremely wary of 7-footers with a history of foot injuries. His numbers are fairly pedestrian so far and he's pretty much all projection. Whiteside has proven himself already to have one valuable skill (shot blocking) and I think you could safely pencil him in for 8reb/36 off the bat. He's long, agile, is able to run the floor, and his build could easily pack on additional muscle. He's raw offensively, but he's aggressive underneath the basket and around the rim. His ceiling is extremely high. When you pick outside of the top three, pretty much every big man is high risk/high reward. The other big that I've been following rather closely is Dexter Pittman, who has a whole other set of issues, but when it comes to college big men I'll go with production > projectibility every time.

@SammyI'm not sure I'd take him in the first round. He's older than Mullens already and he's a big time project. I suppose it's like buying a dozen scratch cards and hoping one is a winner, but continually playing the lottery (Sonics had been stockpiling centers with potential for years) always finds the player losing money.

@SammyActually, that kind of leads to my point. Thompson and Stuckey put up incredible numbers, far better than Whiteside, and still both were only considered mid-late first rounders. Whiteside's only impressive contribution to this point is blocks. That's great for college, but not enough to get you in the lottery (unless the Grizz are drafting).

Memphis at Marshall (Wednesday, January 27th: 7 p.m. on CBS College Sports)

12.4 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 5.4 blocks in 25 minutes per game. Marshall freshman Hassan Whiteside has more than exceeded expectations during his freshman season, leading the NCAA in blocks and providing scouts with an intriguing profile. There are not many chances to catch Marshall on television, and this game should be a spectacular opportunity to watch one of the nation’s best freshmen against good competition. For Memphis, combo-guard Elliot Williams must take advantage of having NBA scouts and personnel in attendance to prove that he is a more polished prospect than people are currently giving him credit for. The same goes for swingman Wesley Witherspoon, who has a tantalizing combination of size and skill, but must prove to scouts that he can be consistent.

@KeithYeah, I get that caveat. To be fair though, Stuckey had pretty terrible asst/TO numbers even in college and you have to be a pretty exceptional scorer to succeed as a combo guard. Thompson was a four year player at Rider (MAAC is worse the CUSA), but his still profile pretty much held up: decent scorer, decent rebounder, average defender, and poor b-ball IQ.

If, Whiteside turns into nothing more than a blocking and rebounding specialist, I'd be happy with him in the mid-first. He's a got oodles of upside offensively, even if he is raw. Right now, he's basically Serge Ibaka with an uncanny knack for timing his blocks.

Also tonight.... don't forget to take a look at Alabi...if you have a second between the Thunder game and State of the Union speech

Florida State at #7 Duke (Wednesday, January 27th: 9 p.m. on ESPN)

At 15-4, Florida State has not had the most impressive season and is searching for a marquee conference victory. Duke is coming off of a disappointing loss to North Carolina State and has not yet shown the consistency of a championship contender. Be sure to watch Duke point guard Jon Scheyer and combo-forward Kyle Singler, players who are proven collegiate stand-outs, but have yet to consistently perform against teams with NBA size and athleticism. Enter Florida State, an underrated team with three legitimate NBA prospects: center Solomon Alabi, combo-forward Chris Singleton, and freshman wing Michael Snaer. All of the prospects in this game have something to prove and on national television, should have every opportunity to step up to the occasion.

The thing I don't like about Whiteside is his comparative production. That is, he plays in a very bad league, against almost zero NBA talent. Two of his worst rebounding/shot-blocking games came against West Virginia and UNC. It should give a lot of pause how little he was able to contribute defensively in those games.

Players from weak conferences (and on teams that won't go anywhere in March) have to post significantly better than average stats in order to look like NBA players. Look at Jason Thompson, who was completely dominant at Rider, or Rodney Stuckey who had POY numbers at Eastern Wash. The 5 blocks are great, but even 10 rebounds and 12 points are just ok at best for an NBA player in C-USA.

that sounds good. With that and what i read up on him. He may not be a bad option. When we draft him he will actually be almost one or two years older than Mullins. I think if he is getting this kind of exposure presi will look into it big time.

@JaredChad Ford wrote about him on his blog a couple weeks ago. Here's what he wrote:

"I'm not sure exactly what to do with Whiteside. He just recorded his second triple-double of his freshman season (and almost logged a third). The more NBA scouts go to watch him play, the more they come back intrigued. Scratch that. Infatuated. There just aren't many players with his physical profile. He's a legit 6-foot-11. He's a terrific rebounder and shot-blocker. He runs the floor like a deer. And, while far from having a polished offensive game, he's aggressive around the rim.

Whiteside is old for a freshman -- he turns 21 in June -- and the word in draft circles is that, given his age, he wants to make the leap to the league this year. He's all over the place on draft boards and teams haven't scouted him as heavily as other top prospects. But with more and more teams making trips to watch him play and pulling up his video on Synergy, that will change soon enough. With a huge matchup against West Virginia looming on Jan. 20, you can expect scouts to be out in force to see him in action. If he can perform well against West Virginia, you'll begin hearing his name in the lottery.

We've moved Whiteside up into the mid-first round. But he could easily be 10 spots higher or 20 spots lower in June."

I like him as a late lottery pick. I think he's another Thabeet as far as a toolset goes, only with some competitive fire and a heart for the game. Thabeet looks as interested in basketball as underwater basket weaving, but Alabi at least looks like he has that inner drive.

Thabeet and Alabi have the same pros and cons. Athletic for his size, decent hands for his size. Close range scorer only. Good rebounder, good shot blocker. Bad passer. Unpolished game.

NBAdraft.net compares him to Dalambert.

If you look in the comments from yesterday, I linked to a stat comparison that might interest you. If you add Thabeet to that comparison, you'll see that they're nearly identical production-wise in college.

@BryanIt's true they have threatened to trade Amare before, but they've never had any real incentive until now. Because now he's an expiring contract and if they don't want to pay him max money, he's going to leave at the end of the year anyway. They need to get something for him now, or they need to name him their franchise player (and by all accounts, nobody in PHX thinks he's a franchise player worthy of max money). My guess is a big market team like Chicago or Miami who would feel comfortable signing him to a long-term deal over the summer is going to make a major play for him.

Wouldn't be so great for longevity, but it sure would make for an interesting couple of years. I don't think I would even do it because it would be detrimental to the teams long-term future, but it's fun to speculate.

Alex :@dorkI’ve been following the Suns religiously the past couple weeks…It’s looking better and better each day. Now all we need is an Amare trade and we’ll be all set for a nice lottery pick.

Man, they have threatened to trade Amare every year and it never happens... They need a nice losing streak so they have the extra motivation to blow up the team, but I seriously doubt that they do. You know damn well that if they had their pick still, they would just call it a day and start over... but since we have the pick, they are going to do everything in their power to make the playoffs.

@BootsIf you want to look at it that way, then yes it's only .6%...But if you think about the possibility of trading both our first rounders to move up and grab a big guy like Aldrich or someone, it's a lot more exciting...